ISBN: 0691215561 9780691215563

Category: Science / Physics / General

Page count: 272

<p><b>A groundbreaking textbook on twenty-first-century waves of all sorts and their applications</b><br><br>Kip Thorne and Roger Blandford’s monumental <i>Modern Classical Physics</i> is now available in five stand-alone volumes that make ideal textbooks for individual graduate or advanced undergraduate courses on statistical physics; optics; elasticity and fluid dynamics; plasma physics; and relativity and cosmology. Each volume teaches the fundamental concepts, emphasizes modern, real-world applications, and gives students a physical and intuitive understanding of the subject.<br><br><i>Optics</i> is an essential introduction to a resurgent subject. “Optics” originally referred to the study of light, but today the field encompasses all types of waves, including electromagnetic waves, from gamma rays to radio waves; gravitational waves; waves in solids, fluids, and plasmas; and quantum waves. The past few decades have seen revolutions in optics—amazing advances in nonlinear optics technology, a growing understanding of optical phenomena throughout the natural world, and an increasing appreciation of the wide-ranging applicability of optics’ central principles. <i>Optics </i>shows how and why this subject—which was once a standard part of physics curricula—should again be routinely taught to physics students, as well as to students in engineering, computer science, and the natural sciences.<br></p><ul><li>Includes many exercise problems</li><li>Features color figures, suggestions for further reading, extensive cross-references, and a detailed index</li><li>Optional “Track 2” sections make this an ideal book for a one-quarter, half-semester, or full-semester course</li><li>An online illustration package is available to professors</li></ul><p>The five volumes, which are available individually as paperbacks and ebooks, are <i>Statistical Physics</i>; <i>Optics</i>; <i>Elasticity and Fluid Dynamics</i>;<i> Plasma Physics</i>; and<i> Relativity and Cosmology.</i></p>